Santa Monica‚Äôs parking nightmare

With the City Council‚Äôs recent approval of parking restrictions for 36 more mid-Wilshire/Montana (Wilmont) neighborhood blocks, parking for residents may actually become even more difficult.

I‚Äôll have to hand it to City Hall. Officials and politicians alike realize that lack of neighborhood parking is a huge quality of life issue. The frustration of finding a place to park even in the off hours such as evenings and weekends has many folks stressed out and angry. How well City Hall deals with the problem is up for debate.

The blocks affected (maybe I should say “infected”) include Lincoln Boulevard and Ninth through 14th streets between Idaho and California avenues. Additional blocks include 15th, 16th and 17th streets between Idaho and Washington avenues and 18th and 19th streets between Montana and Washington avenues. Montana and Idaho avenues between 17th and 20th streets and Washington Avenue between Lincoln and 17th are also included in the new zone.

Restrictions for new permit parking blocks will call for “two-hour parking 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily with no parking 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, except by permit” on some streets. Other streets will have “two-hour parking 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, except by permit.”

The above mentioned blocks were analyzed by City Hall‚Äôs transportation staff. The parking restrictions they devised to ease the parking crunch were approved by the City Council in March. At least two-thirds of the residents (one per dwelling unit) on each of these blocks must petition City Hall‚Äôs Transportation Management Division to have parking restrictions implemented on their block.

A few blocks in mid-Wilmont such as the 900, 1200 and 1300 blocks of Idaho and 800 blocks of 11th through 14th streets and 16th Street (between Montana and Idaho) have had zone restrictions for years. They limit non-permit holders to a maximum of two hours parking from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m, Monday through Saturday. There are no evening or Sunday restrictions.

Residents of the 1000 block of 14th Street (between California and Washington) recently submitted their petition. It‚Äôs a block impacted by John Adams Middle School on the east side of the street and persons who work on Wilshire Boulevard a block south. This block, as well as blocks of residential streets immediately north of Wilshire from roughly Euclid to 18th Street, are also impacted by Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center employees and visitors. Implementing a “permit required” zone in the evening makes sense for these blocks.

I think it‚Äôs overkill to require a permit to park between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. in most of the newly “pre-approved” blocks in the mid-Wilmont neighborhood. For example, residents on the 900 block of Euclid (between Washington and Idaho) have submitted their petition and are waiting for the implementation of parking restrictions that will include needing a permit to park at all between 6 p.m. and 2. a.m., daily.

The 900 block of Euclid is six blocks from the nearest hospital. Sixteen blocks between Washington and Idaho qualified for 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. “permit only” requirements. They‚Äôre two blocks north of Wilshire and one block south of Montana and neither street has much night activity. So what‚Äôs the point? There is none.

Vehicles parking in the 50 street spaces on Euclid‚Äôs 900 block belong to the block‚Äôs residents as well as to neighbors residing on nearby residential blocks. I don‚Äôt see any hospital and little Montana Avenue parking there with maybe the exception of the Aero Theatre a block and a half away when a few movie-goers may park for a few hours two or three evenings a week

When restrictions are implemented in a few weeks, it‚Äôll be fun to watch how the parking dynamic changes. Neighbors within two blocks with valid zone permits will still be able to park in new zones even if the restrictions are different.

Unfortunately, if the new changes exacerbate neighborhood parking problems, they will be nearly impossible to fix.

There‚Äôs not enough street parking for residents in many of the city‚Äôs neighborhoods. Many tenants use their garages for storage. This means more cars park on the streets. Some landlords are now leasing their on-site tenant parking garages for up to $225/month. In my mid-Wilmont neighborhood, some apartment garages are rented to outsiders such as Montana Avenue shopkeepers who use them to warehouse inventory.

Multiple occupants in even single and one bedroom apartments each have their own vehicles. This contributes to high street parking demand. And, a few residents have more than one vehicle; one for work, another for the weekends.

I‚Äôm willing to bet that three fourths of Santa Monica‚Äôs streets now have some sort of parking restrictions ‚Äî and almost all of the Wilmont area. Unfortunately, all the restrictions and “fixes” haven‚Äôt improved the parking situation for most of us, yet.

Instead we get a crazy network of permit parking zones and confusing regulations. The latest scheme: parking meters on residential blocks adjacent to major commercial thoroughfares.

While city officials seem to think that meters will discourage shoppers from parking in residential neighborhoods, it‚Äôll drive them deeper into neighborhoods where there are no meters. Let‚Äôs call this turkey what it really is: an attempt by City Hall‚Äôs finance department to scam more money from residents.

In light of all this, any thoughts of decoupling parking from housing in new construction or reducing parking requirements in future residential and commercial development is also a really bad idea fostered by dreamers and ignoramuses.

If market economics (supply & demand, with a clearing price) is a scam, then there definitely are quite a few scams going on around here. Vons charged me $5.99 for a tub of baby spinach today – why can’t it be free? El Cholo charged me $9.95 for the Chile Colorado plate last night. Surely that’s a scam too. Why can’t we just always create enough supply to meet all of the demand without anyone having to pay? Then, no one would be scammed – right?

Residents of the 900 block of 14th St., are now surrounded by permitted blocks, meaning that those residents cannot park freely on any nearby streets, while residents of those neighboring streets can park on the 900 block of 14th whenever they want (except for the 2 hours per week street cleaning). Is the only solution for that last block to also become permitted? It makes no sense at all. Parking has long been a problem on that block, but because the biggest problem is at night, when residents are home, the problem is not about non-residents and visitors taking up space, but is, at least in part, a result of residents not using their garages for their cars.

A city built of single family homes and beach bungalows, businesses with parking for 1950’s numbers that has turned into multi story apartments and condos, putting hundreds where there used to be 20 or 30 residents. AND, this without required parking space, on site for residents. That should have been done and if you had more than two cars, find a place on the street and don’t have permits.

This inappropriate development has over-stressed all our infrastructure, not just parking. On north Ocean Avenue, we have not had sufficient or reliable electricity ever since they began building the condos, years ago. Where will the parking, water, electricity and sewage disposal come from for these massive high rises? Will we the taxpayers have to provide for them to have enough for ourselves?

I want to thank everyone who came to the meeting last night. I’m sorry I could not be present to see the support you all brought to the meeting. And I have been told it was POWERFUL!

When a community comes together in support to save a neighborhood powerful things will happen. As a group, we have the power to limit the disruption that Palihouse will cause in OUR neighborhood.

Keep talking to your friends and neighbors. Word of mouth is the most powerful tool we have and it’s FREE! When the CUP comes for review we need 100 people to come and SAY NO TO PALIHOUSE alcohol service and valet.

You are all important and your voices and support are needed and appreciated.

Thank you!
Laura

Signing off from one of the most beautiful places on Earth…. Esalen in Big Sur!